A Sight for Sore Eyes - Lead and Opium

Here's a trade card from about 1880, advertising Dr M. M. Fenner's eye salve.  Dr. Fenner was a well-respected, wealthy, and interesting fellow who lived in Fredonia, New York. You can read all about him here. The article even discusses the ingredients for some of Dr. Fenner's remedies, but not the eye salve.

Although we don't know what the ingredients of the eye salve were, here are some recipes for eye remedies from Dr. Chase, a contemporary of Dr. Fenner.

Oh, you don't want to put lead in your eye? O.K., let's try something else.
Yeah, opium, that's it!

Here's the front page from Dr. Chase's book, in case you want to look for your own copy or sue him for causing you to go blind.

Falls View Bridge, Niagara Falls, Ontario

This is a postcard of Niagara Falls from the Canadian side.

In the foreground you can see the streetcar, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway Company.  There is a comprehensive website that details the history of Niagara Falls streetcars, so I won't repeat it, but encourage you to visit their website if you want to know more.

You can also see an Imperial Oil Limited gas station in the foreground on the right. Off in the distance, you can see that the cars seem to be backed up on the bridge behind the streetcar. That's the Falls View Bridge - the third one. The first Falls View Bridge was built in 1869 with a bridge deck that was only ten feet wide. It was widened in 1888, to allow traffic in both directions, but it didn't matter for long because a year after the renovation there was a powerful storm that destroyed the bridge. It still lies submerged in the water.

The second Falls View Bridge was built immediately and finished within 117 days after the destruction of the first one. It didn't last long either, because it was unable to carry the weight of streetcars, which were now considered essential. The bridge shown above, also known as the Upper Steel Arch Bridge, was built in 1898. Unfortunately, disaster struck again in 1938, when the bridge collapsed due to ice jams. You can read more about the bridges over Niagara Falls here.

Girl with a Hoop

This child is beautiful and exotic looking, but unfortunately I can't tell you anything more about her. The card is Italian, probably from the 1920s.

Here's the back of the card. Although this card certainly has a story, I don't know anything about it. Lucky for you, there is Sepia Saturday, where people (more often than not) know the stories behind their photos.